The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Escritoire \Es`cri*toire"\, n. [OF. escritoire, F. ['e]critoire,
   LL. scriptorium, fr. L. scriptorius belonging to writing, fr.
   sribere to write. See Script, and cf. Scrutoire.]
   A piece of furniture used as a writing table, commonly with
   drawers, pigeonholes, and the like; a secretary or writing
   desk.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

escritoire
    n 1: a desk used for writing [syn: secretary, writing table,
         escritoire, secretaire]